WEBVTT - The Bond Between Humans and Dogs

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<v Speaker 1>With due apologies to the people who own a cat,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, ferret, turtle, goldfish, whatever, there actually seems to

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<v Speaker 1>be a unique benefit to dog ownership. Welcome to one

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<v Speaker 1>day University Talks with the world's most engaging and inspiring

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<v Speaker 1>professors discussing their most popular courses. This podcast is your

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<v Speaker 1>chance to discover some of our top rated lectures on

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<v Speaker 1>your own schedule. I'm Steven Schragis, and this episode is

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<v Speaker 1>going to the dogs, or more specifically, human's obsession with

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<v Speaker 1>dogs and why we consider them part of the family.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you're a cat person, don't worry. We've got

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<v Speaker 1>some interesting research for you too. Professor Katherine Sanderson recently

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<v Speaker 1>gave a one day university lecture titled Dogs and Humans

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<v Speaker 1>Why has this bond been so long lasting? She's the

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<v Speaker 1>chair of Psychology at Amherst College and her research has

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<v Speaker 1>received grant funding from the National Science Foundation. Catherine is

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<v Speaker 1>fascinated by the relationship between humans and dogs, and yes,

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<v Speaker 1>she's got a furry family member at home. I would

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<v Speaker 1>have to admit that I am a dog person, and

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<v Speaker 1>my husband and I kind of have a joke about

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<v Speaker 1>that because for years I've said I'm really not a

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<v Speaker 1>dog person, But I love dogs. I currently have one dog,

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<v Speaker 1>who is the third dog that I've had, and I

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<v Speaker 1>will say that dogs consistently bring me and my family

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<v Speaker 1>lots of joy, lots of happiness, and I look forward

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<v Speaker 1>to sharing lots of scientific information with the listeners. Speaking

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<v Speaker 1>of scientific information, you opened your lecture with some statistics

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<v Speaker 1>which I wrote down. Ninety four percent of dog owners

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<v Speaker 1>consider their dog part of the family. Okay, forty three

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<v Speaker 1>percent of dogs sleep in their owners beds, thirty two

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<v Speaker 1>percent celebrate their dog's birthday. Sixty five percent of dog

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<v Speaker 1>owners take more pictures of their dog than their significant other.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's the big one, though, A hundred percent of dogs

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<v Speaker 1>receive a holiday gift. Can you elaborate on that one

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<v Speaker 1>a bit, because that's surprised me. So what's funny to

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<v Speaker 1>me is the one that surprises me is that ninety

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<v Speaker 1>four percent of dog owners consider their dog apart of

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<v Speaker 1>the family. And that surprises me only in that I'm like,

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<v Speaker 1>who are the six percent of people who do not

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<v Speaker 1>consider their dog a part of their family? But I

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<v Speaker 1>will say that overwhelmingly, what the research shows is that

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<v Speaker 1>people very much do consider their dog a part of

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<v Speaker 1>their family and so therefore, when there's a holiday, it

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<v Speaker 1>makes sense that you are celebrating that dog with a

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<v Speaker 1>gift as much as you are with your children and

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<v Speaker 1>your family members. And to me, that really illustrates the

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<v Speaker 1>extent to which will really do embrace having a dog

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<v Speaker 1>as part of their family. These statistics made me wonder

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<v Speaker 1>how long has the scientific community been studying dogs? Is

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<v Speaker 1>this like a relatively new field. So it's not a

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<v Speaker 1>relatively new field in terms of the science, but I

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<v Speaker 1>think it's very much a new field in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>the psychology. So people have certainly examined owning dogs, the

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<v Speaker 1>benefits of dogs, the sort of evolutionary features of moving

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<v Speaker 1>from wolves to dogs, and so on within biology, and

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<v Speaker 1>in particular, what are different features that distinguish dogs, you

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<v Speaker 1>know now versus historically, or dogs from wolves, or frankly

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<v Speaker 1>dogs from other kinds of animals. But I will say

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<v Speaker 1>that in terms of psychology, this is a relatively new field,

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<v Speaker 1>and I think it really sort of took off in

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<v Speaker 1>part because of the growing awareness that dogs weren't just pets,

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<v Speaker 1>but the dogs also have some real and tangible benefits

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<v Speaker 1>to happiness and health, which I think we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>get into a little bit later. Okay, we are going

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<v Speaker 1>to get into that, but let me just add the

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<v Speaker 1>non psychology part, the relationship between wolves and dogs and

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<v Speaker 1>how that is where it all started. Can you tell

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<v Speaker 1>us a little bit about that, right, So, that is

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<v Speaker 1>actually something really interesting, and to be perfectly honest, is

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<v Speaker 1>within biology really not within psychology. But what the research

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<v Speaker 1>suggests is that years ago, thirty thousand or so years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>wolves begged humans for food, so that was a clear

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<v Speaker 1>benefit to the wolf. However, they also assisted humans with

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<v Speaker 1>hunting and therefore it became kind of a symbiotic relationship.

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<v Speaker 1>It's also clear that wolves and then eventually dogs provided

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<v Speaker 1>body heat and comfort. We've heard about dogs providing transportations,

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<v Speaker 1>so dog sleds with lots of different dogs providing an

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity for humans to not have to walk through snowy

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<v Speaker 1>ground but in fact to be pulled. So all of

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<v Speaker 1>that suggest that dogs were beneficial to survival for humans.

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<v Speaker 1>And over time there became this domestication and also selective

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<v Speaker 1>breeding of dogs, which led to this genetic divergence between

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<v Speaker 1>wolves which stay as wild animals, and dogs which became domesticated.

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<v Speaker 1>And we really see this divergence happening, and increasingly dogs

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<v Speaker 1>have changed in terms of their features. We can tell

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<v Speaker 1>particular distinctions in that dogs, unlike wolves, but also unlike

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<v Speaker 1>horses and cats and so on, seem to show particular

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<v Speaker 1>features such as an ability to do what we call

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<v Speaker 1>mutual eyegazs, to literally stare into somebody's face. It's basically

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<v Speaker 1>right above your eyebrows, and it's also right above your

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<v Speaker 1>dogs the equivalent of eyebrows, and this is a particular

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<v Speaker 1>muscle that allows us to do eye gaze. So humans

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<v Speaker 1>have it, babies have it, dogs have it. Wolves do not.

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<v Speaker 1>So this suggests that this muscle, in fact, is a

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<v Speaker 1>key part of allowing the ability to do mutual eyegays,

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<v Speaker 1>to stare into somebody else's eyes, and this is an

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<v Speaker 1>example of the kind of differentiation between dogs and humans.

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<v Speaker 1>What's also particularly interesting here is that this is something

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<v Speaker 1>that we see as representing intimacy. So we stare into

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<v Speaker 1>the eyes of somebody who we love, who we care about.

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<v Speaker 1>Parents stare into the eyes of their babies, We stare

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<v Speaker 1>into the eyes of our romantic partners. And this ability

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<v Speaker 1>to do mutual eye gaze with our dogs is really

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<v Speaker 1>a clear sign of intimacy and attachment. Now let's move

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<v Speaker 1>on to this psychology of it all. There are actual

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<v Speaker 1>health benefits to owning a dog. Why don't you tell

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<v Speaker 1>us about that. So some of the most clear evidence

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<v Speaker 1>within the field of health psychology is that, in fact,

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<v Speaker 1>the presence of dogs reduces stress. And they've studied this

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<v Speaker 1>in a lot of different ways. And one of the

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<v Speaker 1>things that I find most intriguing here is that you

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<v Speaker 1>see this evidence with even very young children. So children

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<v Speaker 1>who are in the presence of a dog actually show

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<v Speaker 1>lower heart rate, reactivity, blood pressure when they're doing something stressful, like,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, taking a math test. We know that with

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<v Speaker 1>people who have PTSD, being paired with a service dog

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<v Speaker 1>also reduces their symptoms, and in fact, this is at

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<v Speaker 1>some levels as beneficial as medication. So what we know

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<v Speaker 1>is that the presence of dogs is really beneficial in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of reducing levels of physiological arousal in ways that

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<v Speaker 1>clearly are beneficial in terms of stress. Let me delve

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<v Speaker 1>into that a little more. I've heard you talk about

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<v Speaker 1>putting dogs in an MRI machine. Not an easy thing,

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<v Speaker 1>I bet, but that's an intriguing thing to think about.

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<v Speaker 1>That image is hard to get out of your head.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is really interesting research, and I share your

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<v Speaker 1>admiration for any researcher who is going to take the

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<v Speaker 1>time to allow a dog to get comfortable enough to

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<v Speaker 1>go into an fMRI machine. But what they've done in

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<v Speaker 1>these studies is they've put dogs in fMRI machines and

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<v Speaker 1>then they've studied patterns of brain activation in response to

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<v Speaker 1>different kind of stimuli. And what that research has shown

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<v Speaker 1>is that dogs actually process words and emotions in the

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<v Speaker 1>brain in a very similar way to what you see

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<v Speaker 1>with humans. And so what this means it is, at

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<v Speaker 1>some level, dogs are actually having emotional reactions in ways

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<v Speaker 1>that are very similar to humans. Dogs, for example, can

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<v Speaker 1>distinguish different kinds of emotional expressions on people's faces, so

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<v Speaker 1>they can tell the difference between, for example, fear and sadness,

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<v Speaker 1>or or happiness and so on. And so this means

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<v Speaker 1>that the part of the brain that is activated for

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<v Speaker 1>a dog when seeing particular emotional expressions actually looks very

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<v Speaker 1>much like what you see in terms of how emotion

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<v Speaker 1>expressions are processed in humans brains. So dogs can understand

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<v Speaker 1>us or is that too simplistic a statement? I think

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<v Speaker 1>on some level, dogs really can understand us, and dogs

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<v Speaker 1>can key into probably very very subtle cues. So we've

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<v Speaker 1>known for a long time, and anyone who's owned a

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<v Speaker 1>dog would already be aware of this that dogs rely

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<v Speaker 1>heavily on their sense of smell. So dogs rely on

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<v Speaker 1>smell to recognize someone in a way that most people,

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<v Speaker 1>of course do not. So that's an example of how

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<v Speaker 1>dogs are actually queuing into things on some level better

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<v Speaker 1>than humans can. So in some senses, dogs may be

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<v Speaker 1>able to perceive things like stress or anxiet, whether that's

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<v Speaker 1>measured in facial expression or scent. It's why researchers have

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<v Speaker 1>used dogs to sniff out bombs or explosives or drugs

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<v Speaker 1>in airports, why in some cases researchers and medicine are

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<v Speaker 1>actually looking at dogs as being able to smell signs

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<v Speaker 1>of ovarian cancer before these signs are actually evident in

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<v Speaker 1>screenings that people would actually go through. So on some levels,

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<v Speaker 1>dogs may actually have better abilities to pick up on

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<v Speaker 1>subtle things than humans do. What about though, recognizing words

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<v Speaker 1>and language. Can you talk to your dog and they

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<v Speaker 1>understand you, I think at a low level absolutely so.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, the example that I always give with students

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<v Speaker 1>in my intro to psychology class is that we speak

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<v Speaker 1>to dogs exactly in the same way that we speak

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<v Speaker 1>to babies. So if you talk to a dog, you'll

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<v Speaker 1>say do you want to go for a walk, and

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<v Speaker 1>you won't say do you want to go for a walk,

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<v Speaker 1>And that's exactly the kind of speech that we use

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<v Speaker 1>when we talk to babies. For years, as an undergraduate,

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<v Speaker 1>I actually did research with language acquisition as an undergraduate

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<v Speaker 1>at Stanford. This is what my undergraduate honor thesis was

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<v Speaker 1>on and what that research showed, even way back then

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<v Speaker 1>was that we use this particular pattern and intonation of speech.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time that I was in college, it was

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<v Speaker 1>called Mothery's We actually now call it parent ease within psychology.

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<v Speaker 1>But this is exactly how we speak to dogs. That

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<v Speaker 1>we accentuate with a high pitch, the word that is important,

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<v Speaker 1>do you want to go for a walk? Do you

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<v Speaker 1>want to go for a ride in the car? That

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<v Speaker 1>These are all examples of things that influence how we

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<v Speaker 1>speak to dogs. Now, it's also clear that dogs can

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<v Speaker 1>understand that. If we look at what we name dogs,

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<v Speaker 1>overwhelmingly many of the most popular dog names have this

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<v Speaker 1>ability to do that kind of sing songy speech. So

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<v Speaker 1>lots of dog names end with why so Daisy, Lucy, Molly, Buddy, Charlie, Rocky.

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<v Speaker 1>I've just given you six three female names, three male

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<v Speaker 1>names that are the most popular puppy names. And there's

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<v Speaker 1>a reason for that that we in fact believe that

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<v Speaker 1>dogs can understand their names easier when they have this

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<v Speaker 1>kind of sing songy speech. So dogs can pick up

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<v Speaker 1>on their names, but dogs can also pick up on

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<v Speaker 1>other kinds of words that we're using in the environment.

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<v Speaker 1>I never heard anything like that that is really interesting

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<v Speaker 1>about the general area of dog names. Can you get specific?

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<v Speaker 1>I know you have dogs, How have you named your dogs?

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<v Speaker 1>What was your thought process? Yeah? So I love that question,

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<v Speaker 1>and I will say that I have had three dogs.

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<v Speaker 1>The first one was called Hoby. You can imagine that

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<v Speaker 1>ended and why. The next one was called Daisy. Our

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<v Speaker 1>third dog is called Lily. And literally two weeks ago

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<v Speaker 1>I started fostering a dog and that dog was given

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<v Speaker 1>to me with the name. So the dog arrived with

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<v Speaker 1>the name, and I was told this dog's name is

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<v Speaker 1>john and I immediately you can probably predict where I'm going.

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<v Speaker 1>I immediately changed that dog's name to Johnny. So it

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<v Speaker 1>was not my dog. It was a loner dog, a

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<v Speaker 1>temporary dog that I was fostering a puppy. But I

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<v Speaker 1>immediately started calling him Johnny because I wanted him to

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<v Speaker 1>learn his name, because that actually makes it easier for

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<v Speaker 1>him to be responsive to his future owner. So we

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<v Speaker 1>literally started calling him Johnny, and I am delighted to

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<v Speaker 1>report that he was adopted and his new owner is

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<v Speaker 1>going to keep calling him Johnny. After the break, Catherine

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<v Speaker 1>tells us how your dog may help you live longer,

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<v Speaker 1>and the difference between dog and cat owners. Owning a

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<v Speaker 1>dog seems to affect people's life expectancy, how long they're

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<v Speaker 1>going to live. What's going on there, So this is

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<v Speaker 1>one of the most practically important findings. And what the

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<v Speaker 1>research shows, in fact, is that owning a dog actually

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<v Speaker 1>decreases somebody's risk of dying in a given year about

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<v Speaker 1>twenty four percent, and the benefit of dog ownership is

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<v Speaker 1>actually even greater thirty one percent for people who have

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<v Speaker 1>already had a heart attack or a stroke, suggesting that

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<v Speaker 1>for people who are at a more medically fragile point,

0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.960
<v Speaker 1>the benefits are particularly strong. I will also note that

0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.040
<v Speaker 1>that study I just described is worldwide so this is

0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.800
<v Speaker 1>not a uniquely American finding or Western culture kind of finding.

0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.520
<v Speaker 1>It seems to be that there is a benefit, generally speaking,

0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.480
<v Speaker 1>from dog ownership. Are there other health benefits? People who

0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:00.120
<v Speaker 1>own a dog tend to have lower rates of of

0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:04.560
<v Speaker 1>blood pressure, they tend to have higher overall mood, So

0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.800
<v Speaker 1>it seems to be sort of broadly beneficial, not just

0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.040
<v Speaker 1>in terms of life expectancy, so yes, in terms of

0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:14.600
<v Speaker 1>life expectancy, but also very clearly there seem to be

0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.160
<v Speaker 1>benefits in terms of psychological wellbeing as well. And the

0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.160
<v Speaker 1>same thing is true if you own a cat, or

0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.400
<v Speaker 1>a fish or a hamster, right who, With due apologies

0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:28.120
<v Speaker 1>to the people who own a cat, you know, ferret, turtle, goldfish, whatever,

0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:32.560
<v Speaker 1>there actually seems to be a unique benefit to dog ownership.

0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:37.800
<v Speaker 1>So we actually don't see evidence for the unique benefits

0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.520
<v Speaker 1>of any other kind of pet other than dogs. It

0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.400
<v Speaker 1>doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but it means there is

0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.400
<v Speaker 1>not yet scientific data I can point to that supports that. Catherine,

0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.720
<v Speaker 1>you've described yourself as a dog person, proudly as a

0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.640
<v Speaker 1>dog person, but a lot of our listeners would call

0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.480
<v Speaker 1>themselves cat people. You want to tell us a little

0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.560
<v Speaker 1>about the difference between a cat person and a person

0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.520
<v Speaker 1>and how you contrast them. Sure, a great question, and

0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.600
<v Speaker 1>so I'll say a couple of things about that. And

0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.120
<v Speaker 1>I'll also say, in the interest of full disclosure, I

0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.840
<v Speaker 1>also have a cat. So in addition to having dogs,

0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:12.400
<v Speaker 1>I also have a cat and have had a cat

0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.080
<v Speaker 1>for a very long time. Different cats, but currently I

0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.360
<v Speaker 1>have a cat as well. So I'll say a couple

0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.600
<v Speaker 1>of different things. One, what the research shows is that

0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.640
<v Speaker 1>some of the unique benefits of having a dog maybe

0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:25.840
<v Speaker 1>due to things that we do with dogs that we

0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.520
<v Speaker 1>don't do with cats. So, for example, we walk our dogs.

0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.640
<v Speaker 1>Most of us do not walk our cats. So when

0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.320
<v Speaker 1>we talk about the benefits of dog ownership as opposed

0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.760
<v Speaker 1>to cat ownership, in all honesty, it may be that

0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.960
<v Speaker 1>dogs are kind of a proxy for exercise. So we

0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:43.840
<v Speaker 1>have a dog, and therefore we walk it. And so

0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:45.840
<v Speaker 1>it's really not that the owning the dog is the

0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.520
<v Speaker 1>good thing in terms of health or longevity. It's really

0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.480
<v Speaker 1>that walking is something we are much more likely to

0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.560
<v Speaker 1>do with dogs than cats, and that's where you're getting

0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.840
<v Speaker 1>the benefit. Relatedly, when you walk with a dog, you

0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.120
<v Speaker 1>get human connect action because overwhelmingly when you're walking with

0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.119
<v Speaker 1>the dog, you meet other people and they say, what's

0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.000
<v Speaker 1>your dog's name, how old is your dog? What kind

0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:08.800
<v Speaker 1>of dog is that? And so it also may be

0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.199
<v Speaker 1>that dogs are kind of giving us access to some

0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.639
<v Speaker 1>kind of a social network in a way that cats

0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.800
<v Speaker 1>do not. I've also talked about dogs as giving us

0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.000
<v Speaker 1>unconditional love, and frankly, there are lots of people who

0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.800
<v Speaker 1>would say, my cat does that for me as well.

0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.560
<v Speaker 1>And so people who feel that they have a connection

0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.640
<v Speaker 1>with their cat and their cat is responsive to them,

0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:34.159
<v Speaker 1>that their cat also recognizes their voice, recognizes their footsteps,

0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.879
<v Speaker 1>and so on. For people who have that sort of

0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.560
<v Speaker 1>a relationship with their cat, you may in fact beginning

0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:43.480
<v Speaker 1>similar benefits. Now, when you gave this lecture, the other

0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.920
<v Speaker 1>thing that jumped out to a lot of people was

0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:51.680
<v Speaker 1>the idea of jealous dogs, which you confirmed dogs can

0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.280
<v Speaker 1>get jealous. There's been research you want to tell us

0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.200
<v Speaker 1>about that I do, and that is a really interesting finding.

0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.520
<v Speaker 1>But what they did in the study act actually created

0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:06.400
<v Speaker 1>fake dogs, but realistic looking fake dogs, and they had

0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:11.440
<v Speaker 1>pet owners pay attention to, hold, talk to, etc. These

0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:17.720
<v Speaker 1>fake dogs, and that actually seemed to bother their actual dog.

0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.240
<v Speaker 1>This again is an example of something that is exactly

0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:25.160
<v Speaker 1>what you see in terms of babies, so very young babies.

0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.159
<v Speaker 1>If a mom or a dad is holding another baby,

0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.399
<v Speaker 1>babies will show jealousy. They'll really react to that. And

0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.320
<v Speaker 1>dogs seem to do exactly the same kind of thing.

0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.960
<v Speaker 1>They come over, they kind of insert themselves between you

0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.320
<v Speaker 1>and the even fake dog. So they are having a

0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:47.760
<v Speaker 1>very human response to having their attachment figure paying attention

0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.040
<v Speaker 1>to someone else. So dogs again very much like babies

0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.080
<v Speaker 1>in lots of ways. Well, Catherine, as you know, I

0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.600
<v Speaker 1>ran One Day University for fourteen years. You always like

0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.560
<v Speaker 1>to start with a joke, and you usually finished with

0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.480
<v Speaker 1>a joke. When you gave this talk, you finished with

0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.800
<v Speaker 1>a joke, and that might be a good finish to

0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.639
<v Speaker 1>this podcast. That is a great finish. Well, I'm actually

0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:11.679
<v Speaker 1>going to end with two jokes. You're gonna get two jokes.

0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.920
<v Speaker 1>So one, when I talk about the science of Happiness,

0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:16.760
<v Speaker 1>which is my I think most popular talk at One

0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.879
<v Speaker 1>Day University, I always described how dogs give us a

0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.640
<v Speaker 1>particular kind of love, unconditional love, which everybody of course knows.

0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.640
<v Speaker 1>And then I say, my husband and I have been

0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.320
<v Speaker 1>married for what will now be thirty years this August,

0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.200
<v Speaker 1>and I say, we have three kids, we have this

0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.080
<v Speaker 1>two dogs. We have the following deal. If one of

0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.080
<v Speaker 1>us leaves, the person who leaves takes the three kids,

0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.399
<v Speaker 1>and the other person gets the dogs. And that has

0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.640
<v Speaker 1>kept our relationship very strong. I've ended with that joke

0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:47.040
<v Speaker 1>for years, but about five years ago a man came

0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:48.560
<v Speaker 1>up to me, and I remember it vividly. It was

0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.720
<v Speaker 1>in a talk I gave in Dallas, and he said,

0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.120
<v Speaker 1>I have the perfect joke for you to end with.

0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.360
<v Speaker 1>And this is in fact the joke that I now

0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.520
<v Speaker 1>end with. And here's the joke. Imagine you come home

0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.679
<v Speaker 1>from work one day and you put your wife and

0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.359
<v Speaker 1>your dog in the trunk of a car. Then you

0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:06.680
<v Speaker 1>drive around for an hour. At the end of that hour,

0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.399
<v Speaker 1>when you open up the trunk, guess who's still happy

0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:12.840
<v Speaker 1>to see you. And that joke really sort of epitomizes

0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.399
<v Speaker 1>why dogs are so beneficial, because you know what, the

0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.240
<v Speaker 1>dog would be still really happy to see you. Catherine,

0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.960
<v Speaker 1>thank you so much for this. We really appreciate it,

0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.040
<v Speaker 1>and I hope I see you again soon. More dogs

0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:29.840
<v Speaker 1>is good for us all. That's the key takeaway. Thanks

0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.879
<v Speaker 1>for joining us here at one day University. Sign up

0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:36.399
<v Speaker 1>at our website one day you dot com to become

0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.879
<v Speaker 1>a member and access over seven hundred full length video

0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:44.080
<v Speaker 1>lectures from the world's finest professors. You can also download

0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.119
<v Speaker 1>our app. There you can learn more about today's episode

0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:51.760
<v Speaker 1>and watch Amherst Professor Katherine Sanderson's lecture on dogs and Humans,

0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:54.639
<v Speaker 1>as well as her talks on the science of happiness,

0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:59.199
<v Speaker 1>understanding intelligence, and more. Join us next time when we

0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.480
<v Speaker 1>talk about wealth in America. We have been struggling as

0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.399
<v Speaker 1>a society to make sense and figure out what to

0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:09.520
<v Speaker 1>do about wealth inequality since the late nineteenth century. One

0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:13.679
<v Speaker 1>Day University is a production of iHeart Podcasts and School

0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.240
<v Speaker 1>of Humans. If you're enjoying the show, leave a review

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<v Speaker 1>in your favorite podcast now. You can also check out

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